Strike

i am not so sure. pantilimon is no turnbull and zabaleta, toure, aguero, and nasri are more than capable backups. couple with that the shit we've put up in pre-season so far, this could go south very easily unless we improve a LOT

I wonder if he's seen us play in pre-season

odemwingie had a bust up with clarke (reportedly), probably he is the one leaving

Chelsea Football Club enter the permanent Roberto di Matteo era this weekend on the back of a roller coaster summer that followed the club’s greatest season in history. Without talismanic striker Didier Drogba this season, di Matteo moved swiftly to snap up the world’s top youngsters early in the window. The initial excitement of the new signings was dampened by the torrid pre-season in the States (and back home) but in spite of the setbacks, Chelsea head towards a promising new campaign where we are in contention for 7 trophies. The first of them is the FA Community Shield this weekend that pits the Premier League winners against the FA Cup (and Champions League) winners. The Community Shield or the Charity Shield as it was called back then, was played for the first time in 1908 at Stamford Bridge. Manchester United defeated Queens Park Rangers 4-0 after a replay, again played at the Bridge. That remains the only Shield game to be replayed. The Charity Shield stayed at the Bridge till 1911 and would return to Fulham Road sporadically in the coming decades. Stamford Bridge has hosted the Shield eleven times, the most by any stadium excluding Wembley. The Venue - Villa Park This time around, the customary curtain-raiser to the Premier League season moves away from its annual home of Wembley, which is busy hosting the Olympics, to the much less intimidating surroundings of Villa Park in Birmingham. Roughly the same size as Stamford Bridge, Villa Park was built over 115 years ago and has been home to Aston Villa since 1897. Despite last season’s 4-2 win there, Chelsea have a worrisome record at Villa Park having failed to win 8 of the last 10 games. Even in the Premiership winning seasons, Villa Park was not a happy hunting ground for the Blues. The last time the Community Shield was played outside Wembley or the Millenium Stadium was in Maine Road in 1973, the home of our opposition tomorrow – Manchester City. Manchester City, similar to Chelsea, head into this game on the back of a historic season. The last-gasp title win in May sparked wild celebrations up in Manchester and despite not adding anyone to the squad in the summer, City have a formidable team. A strike force of Edin Dzeko, Mario Balotelli, Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero is as good as it gets while David Silva and Yaya Toure in midfield is a lethal combination. With Vincent Kompany (probably the best defender in the world right now) at the back and Joe Hart in goal, Man City have an arsenal of players (excuse pun) that could hurt Chelsea. Despite a shaky start to pre-season, City won 5 games on the trot to end the pre-season convincingly. The 4-0 wins over Wolfsburg and Limerick included predatory performances from Aguero and Dzeko. The Chelsea defence will have to be much better to keep out City tomorrow. Vincent Kompany may as well be rested but looking at our attack in pre-season, I don’t think City will be troubled much. Man City (probable XI) – Hart, Zabaleta, Lescott, K Toure, Clichy, Y Toure, de jong, Milner, Johnson, Aguero, Tevez Mancini bullish ahead of the game Chelsea’s pre-season went from bad to worse with the three consecutive defeats against MLS All-Stars, AC Milan and Brighton, highlighting the work needed to be done to catch-up with the top teams in the country. Despite winning the Champions League, let’s not forget that Chelsea finished a lowly 6th position in the Premier League. As paradoxical as it may seem, I think Chelsea are more suited to facing the top teams rather than the Wigans and the Liverpools of the Premier League. The attack is just not potent enough to force their way through 6-7 defenders The problems for Chelsea are innumerable. Torres looked his usual jaded self in pre-season while Eden Hazard, despite some neat turns and dribbles, did not influence the game as much as expected. The midfielders Mikel, Essien and Meireles managed to prove once again that they are not meant to be played in an attacking team. Even the usually compact defence was breached with ease throughout pre-season. Unless the players step up their game and gel into the new system, this could turn into an embarrassment for the club. The only positive aspect of pre-season was that the squad stayed injury-free (Marin exempted) and with Oscar, Mata and Sturridge coming into the squad, we will only get better. di Matteo has to use the pre-season as a wake-up call to rouse the players for the new season Chelsea (probable XI) Cech Ivanovic Cahill Terry Cole Mikel Lampard Ramires Hazard Malouda Torres di Matteo speaking about the youth movement at Chelsea Players to Watch Yaya Toure - The engine of Man City's midfield, Yaya Toure is like a fit and in-form Essien. He drives City's attacks from deeper positions and acts as the perfect foil to Aguero and the other quick footed players. To control the midfield tomorrow, Chelsea have to watch out for Yaya Toure's runs Eden Hazard - Easily the most fouled Chelsea player, Hazard showed off his array of skills to get around the opposition defenders although the end product was lacking. It will be interesting to see whether he is played in behind Torres tomorrow. Foot Notes - Last time in the Community Shield, Chelsea were beaten 3-1 by Manchester United in 2010. - Manchester City were beaten 3-2 in last year's Community Shield by Manchester United - Head to Head vs Man City - last 5 games - W 2 D 0 L 3 - Silva, Barry, Richards, Balotelli, Marin are all ruled out while Juan Mata and Daniel Sturridge may be rested

again, Benayoun was non-existent when he played on the right side against Seattle Sturridge has just returned from GB duty. i vote to let him rest

Mikel Lampard and Essien in the middle then. we are short of quality options in mid without marin, mata and oscar

i agree that ramires is not great on the wing but given that we dont have oscar or Marin for the shield and mata is probably tired, ramires seems like the only option for the right wing.

Cech Ivanovic Cahill Terry Cole Mikel Ramires Lampard Ramires Hazard Torres

it seems a coincidence that we have bought "nice" players although i don't think anybody would be crazy enough to go out and buy mario balotelli or joey barton

adrian Mutu perhaps

but to be fair, in September 04', we were not a great attacking force either. at the start of that season, we had results like 1-0 or 0-0. it was only after october that we started scoring frequently. anyway, don't think we should park the bus for this. we will just be under incessant pressure

with cavani in the team, crosses from a deep full-back position will make more sense

Its too early to think about the second half of the season. By December 1. At the very least, we have to be in the top 4 2. Through the Champions League Group Stage as group winners 3. A settled line-up 4. Win the Club World Cup

sell meireles and essien sign cabaye or moutinho and play him alongside Oscar in mid. sign azpi or debuchy sign lewandowski or dembele or dzeko or any bargain to give us back up in attack. then we'll be ready to challenge for the title

edit : haven't watched the whole game but as cundy mentioned, hazard is playing infield to get involved with the play giving us no real width to stretch the opponents.

yeah. also, the fact about being disliked by neutrals. i myself dislike india's power-hungry policy to rule world cricket if not for the batsmen we have produced, i would have stopped following indian cricket

That's an understatement

that made me laugh . Great article, mate i agree with most of your views. the squad is not balanced. the centre midfield and striker positions especially. We have too many defensive midfielders and all of them average at best. Maybe di Matteo will realise this as the season begins and play Oscar in a deeper midfield position but i fear the damage maybe done by then. We need to upgrade the midfield from Meireles to Moutinho, in a manner of speaking. As Tomo mentioned, we need more players at the 24-39 age bracket as well. As for the striker role, I don't see how signing Moses will make much of a difference seeing as he will be a back-up and will most likely be used on the wings when brought on. We need to sign a top striker. Banking on Torres to fire this season is walking a tight rope and a top club like Chelsea should know better. Daniel Sturridge is an interesting option. He has obviously got the skills and I think he will do good in a "Rooney" position (when he plays just behind Welbeck) but that will make Mata obsolete at CAM.

can't watch this game, unfortunately but i would like to see us try a different formation as others mentioned 4-3-3 , 4-4-1-1-, 4-4-2 even if we are desperate

no offense btw

Manpe's avatar is hideous Ryan Davidson is Scottish Duppy Conqueror has "Duppy" in his name dont think Henrique really cares about Member of the Month that leaves Hutcho. good poster . i i'll vote him i think that's a fair assessment

i'll write a few when i find time

yep. as good as the posters mentioned were last month, it has to be Jim

cech Ivan cahill terry Cole marin lampard Oscar hazard ------------Mata -----------torres ultra attacking though. only against weaker teams

exactly like Tiote and Cabaye at Newcastle except Tiote is much more mobile. that's the problem with Mikel, his strength is good but his mobility to break up attacks is not essien or tiote or yaya toure-like.